W Roscoe

The Tycoons - Charles R. Morris

December 06 2008   William   writes:

A story about four men who helped shape America’s modern economy. Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan, each in their own sector, pulled America past its competitors to the scales and technological supremacy that we complacently enjoy today. This story that follows each character through their influential lives gives a clear picture of America during the turn of the 19th century when it surpassed Britain and Germany in GDP per capita.

New Favorite Invention

I did find my new favorite invention in this book. It is not something I had ever heard of nor would ever had known existed without reading this book. It was one of the many technologies that helped the north win the Civil War. The three dimensional lathe or gun-stock machine invented by Thomas Blanchard in 1818. It is a lathe that can produce an unsymmetrical three dimensional shape. Prior to this invention all gun stocks were made by hand by a skilled crafts man. The machine is designed to have one block of wood and one wood pattern turn in unison, side by side. A tracer wheel rested against the pattern that connected to a rapidly spinning cutting wheel that transfered the same path on to the block of wood (see a picture here).

Tale Spinners

The most moving quote from the book seems timely with all hell breaking loose on wall street and everyone with a mouth has something to say about it.

“The surge of raw power at the commencement of a great empire can sustain expansionist momentum long after its internal dynamism flags. A telltale sign of ebbing energy is when its intellectual elites start construction imperial narratives. The tale spinners of Augustan Rome were priests and poets; in the twentieth-century empire of American business, they were pundits and professors.” p291

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Earth: The Sequel

May 19 2008   William   writes:

The book delivers an optimistic outlook of how the United States can realistically address its energy security vulnerabilities and global warming impacts by putting the new energy companies on an equal playing field with their fossil fuel competitors. Krupp and Horn argue that internalizing the environmental costs of fossil fuels with a CO2 cap and trade system will allow the market, not the government, determine which companies and technologies can reduce greenhouse gasses most efficiently and provide energy at the lowest cost. The reality of the solutions are shown with explanations of the leading energy and environmental service companies in operation today. The book is comprehensive update of the status of renewable energy technologies and the economic and political landscape that faces them.

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Freedom From Oil - David Sandalow

February 15 2008   William   writes:

This book is written in the format of memos to the next president of US. They detail which policies could effectively reduce our nation’s oil consumption. The solutions are explain in plain and simple terms without delving deeply into the science of each energy technology. Sandolow recommends Plug in Hybrids, Cellulosic Ethanol, and a Gas Tax as the three best methods break our oil addiction. Though their are some inaccuracies in his explanations of the science behind the energy technologies, the proposed policies would set America in the write direction.

My thoughts on the book… continue reading »

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